Vodafone gains 4.7 crore new customers through MNP

After all the complaints about the poor network, call drops, Vodafone finally has some bit of good news in its kitty. The telecom major has been the top gainer of customers through Mobile Number Portability (MNP) facility while Reliance Communications is the biggest loser.

According to the data presented by Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha in the Parliament on Wednesday, 4.7 crore customers joined Vodafone while 48.65 lakh customers moved out of its network through MNP facility.

Vodafone was followed by Airtel which was joined by 3.82 crore new users and Idea (1.8 crore users) in customer gain through MNP.

Apart from these three companies, all other telecom operators have been a net loser of customers in MNP process. In the case of RCom, 2.74 crore customers ported out from its network (Reliance Telecom, RCom GSM, and RCom CDMA) while 1.56 crore subscribed its services, resulting in net loss of 1.18 crore customers.

RCom was followed by Aircel which lost 71.58 lakh customers, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) 64.5 lakh, Telenor 47 lakh, Videocon 32.55 lakh, BSNL 19.2 lakh and MTS 6.11 lakh. The list included names of Etisalat and Loop which shut their services in the country.

Sinha said that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) received a number of complaints wherein the subscribers had reported that their porting requests were rejected by the donor operators on various grounds.

"On examination of MNP complaints, it was noticed that in many cases, rejection of porting requests of the subscribers was not in accordance with the provisions of the regulations. Accordingly, directions were issued to concerned service providers to ensure compliance with MNP regulations," he said.

TRAI has imposed a cumulative penalty of Rs. 9.45 crores for not complying with MNP rules by hampering exit of customers from their network, as per the data. A maximum penalty of Rs. 4.68 crores for violating MNP rules was imposed on telecom major BhartiAirtel followed by 1.58 crore on Aircel, Rs. 1.22 crores Vodafone, Rs. 1 crores BSNL, Rs. 54.8 lakh Idea , 23.33 lakh TTSL, SistemaShyamRs. 5 lakh and Loop Mobile Rs. 2.41 lakh.